Man, 25, Dies After St. Paul House Fire

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) — A 25-year-old man who was rescued from a fast-moving fire in a St. Paul home Saturday morning has died from his injuries.

Firefighters received report of a fire on the 1400 block of Van Buren Avenue in the Frogtown neighborhood just before 6 a.m., according to St. Paul Fire Marshall Steve Zaccard.

Crews arrived within minutes, but the fire had already done extensive damage to the second floor.

Seven people were inside sleeping when the fire started. Five people got out safely, but another two were taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation.

One victim was unconscious when rescued and died the next day at Regions Hospital. He was later identified as Daniel Trabant.

Jake Foster was one of the residents who escaped the fire.

“All I saw was fire coming from my roommate’s doorway, and, yeah, I just got out,” Foster said. “I looked out my back window to see if there was a better option to jump or to run out, but I got out here and my roommates were in the process of jumping off the roof because the fire was coming through their room at that point.”

Foster says the frantic moments getting out of the house got worse as he realized one of his roommates didn’t make it out.

“I’m really worried about my roommate. I went back and tried to yell at him when we all got out,” Foster said.

Trabant died late Sunday morning.

The St. Paul Fire Department says an unattended candle in a second-floor bedroom was the cause of the blaze.